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FINANCIAL DATA
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When factoring in state costs, the average cost
for each child in foster care in 1995 was $21,092 and the average
cost for each person receiving a welfare check was $2,499.
"Although much public attention has focused on the cost of public assistance
(the former AFDC program), child welfare is a more expensive governmental
activity and the more complicated. In 1995, the federal government
spent about $11,698 per child in foster care, whereas it spent only
$1,012 for each person receiving welfare benefits. When factoring
in state costs, the average cost increases even further to $21,092 per child
in foster care versus $2,499 for each person receiving a welfare check.
The United States has had federally mandated child-protection laws for over
a quarter of a century. Since these mandates have been in effect, child maltreatment
rates have increased tremendously and child-protection agencies’ ability
to handle the increase has declined:
When CAPTA was enacted in 1973, child-protection agencies handled about 60,000
reports of abuse and neglect; today they handle 3 million.
Substantiation rates have plummeted from a high of 61 percent in 1976 to
a current low of 31 percent.
Early estimates on confirmed abuse and neglect, while far from exact, ranged
from 6,500 in 1967 to 360,000 in 1974.
In 1997, child-protection agencies confirmed that 963,870 children were abused
or neglected by their parents.
Around the same time, more than 130,500 children entered foster care bringing
the total number of children being taken care of by the state to 520,000.
Less than 20 percent of all substantiated cases of child maltreatment go
to criminal or civil court.
Most children can remain home safely, even after a substantiated incident.
Fewer than 20 percent of the three million children investigated are in sufficient
danger that they have to be removed from their family. "
Policy Study No. 262, October 1999, Child Protection at the Crossroads: Child
Abuse, Child Protection, and Recommendations for Reform
By Susan Orr, Ph.D.